Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Out of my comfort zone

I like to think of myself as adventurous, but in truth, I am a homebody, used to her routines and her quiet comforts. I do most of my adventuring in my imagination and through stories and books.

But I also have an insatiable curiosity about the world and its cultures. That curiosity and our deep love for the Kyrgyz exchange student who lived with us a few years ago is leading us to a 3 week exploration of Kyrgyzstan beginning in the middle of August.

I have prepared as much as I could: guidebooks, check; expat blogs, check; endless emails to our lovely Nurjan with questions, check; meeting with the physician travel specialist, check. But in the end, I must simply open myself up to the experiences waiting for me there.

I rarely do things that I can't plan or predict. It's my nature. I am not a spontaneous creature, though I greatly admire spontaneity in others. This trip will be the furthest I have been away from home, both in miles, in timezones, and in culture.

It is simply, the trip of a lifetime, and if I can't have my comforting routines, I will have with me the next best thing: my family, including a lovely young woman who let us be her American family for a time.

You can read samples of my novels (some in progress, some published) on Wattpad.

I've also been known to make pottery and give it away. :)

FYI: I have political biases. I am concerned with social justice, gender issues, and feminism. I will talk about this side by side with writing craft, pottery, and cute animal pictures.

P.S. Sadly, I know that the individuals this relates to are not the people reading this, so consider this my public venting. Most of the folks I have met on G+ have been interesting and wonderful; people I now count as my friends. However, I have increasingly been the recipient of private messages and emails from men, often not native English speakers, but not exclusively so, wanting to 'get to know me better'. These "hey baby" messages are from people who have never interacted with me, aren't in my circles, and have no connection with me or my interests. This is the internet version of the street cat-call and is at best, irritating, at worse, harassment. So I will not answer chat requests from anyone I do not recognize from my circles or from prior interactions on G+ posts.